Reigning MotoGP World Champion and runaway series leader Marc Marquez has acknowledged that title rival Valentino Rossi will be very strong at this home race of Mugello this weekend which has proved difficult for the young Spaniard in the past.

Last year, in his debut season, Marquez crashed twice on Friday - once at 200mph - again on Saturday morning and then again in the race after qualifying on the second row.

“Mugello is a tricky circuit - one of the hardest on the calendar - and we struggled a lot last year. I had many crashes over the weekend and then crashed out of the race also. Now I have an extra year’s experience and I hope it will go more smoothly for us,” said Marquez.

“I know that Valentino will be very strong at his ‘home’ race, Jorge has won there for the past three years and Dani is also very fast there, so we will need to stay focused and if we cannot challenge for the win then we must take important points for the Championship.”